That evening, Lou Mu secretly left the mansion through a secret passage.

Tang Nian found an excuse to send Jing Yao away, and stayed in the room herself. She spread out a piece of paper and wrote down everything she had seen in the talisman.

Tang Nian folded the letter into a paper crane, held it in her hand, and gently blew on it. The paper crane turned into a real flying crane, flapping its wings and flying away through the slightly open window.

That Taoist priest was very likely a ghost, but not many ghosts could see through her disguise. Tang Nian wasn't entirely sure, so she had to ask the underworld if there were any evil ghosts that had escaped from hell. She hoped that the underworld could investigate as soon as possible and reply before the Empress Dowager's birthday.

Minghuan had been summoned by her to find the High God and wouldn't be back for a while. She wouldn't urge him to return, even though having Minghuan around would make things much simpler this time.

Tang Nian got up and closed the window tightly, then sat back down at the table, opened the book on the table, and began to read it carefully.

Jingyao returned shortly afterward, carrying a ream of yellow paper and a dish of ink.

"Did no one see you?" Tang Nian heard Jing Yao quietly walk in carrying a tray, looked up at her, and asked softly.

Jing Yao shook her head, placed the tray in front of Tang Nian, walked to the door, peeked out, and carefully closed the door.

When she turned around again, Tang Nian was already sitting at the table, drawing talismans. The talismans she was going to use this time were different from those she had used before. Tang Nian was not very good at exorcising ghosts and rarely drew yellow talismans for exorcising ghosts. After failing several times while trying to draw from the book, she finally drew a successful talisman.

After one success, things got much faster. Before Lou Mu returned, Tang Nian had already drawn all the talismans that could be used to exorcise ghosts in the book, and each type of talisman paper was neatly stacked in separate piles. She just didn't know how effective these talismans would be.

Jingyao went to help Lou Mu complete the task he had entrusted to her before he left.

Seeing that it was still early, Tang Nian found some books about ghosts and read them carefully.

About an incense stick later, Lou Mu returned to his residence. It seemed that he went straight from his study to Tang Nian's Huasheng Pavilion. Sometimes, when Lou Mu and Jing Yao were not around, servants would secretly come to her to gossip about their relationship.

Hearing footsteps outside the door, Tang Nian paused in her book-turning motion, but calmly turned to the next page after listening carefully.

"You're back?" Tang Nian looked up at Lou Mu, who had just opened the door.

Lou Mu chuckled, walked to the table, picked up the talisman Tang Nian had just drawn, and glanced at it: "Why are you drawing talismans again?"

Ever since Tang Nian agreed to come to the capital with Lou Mu, Lou Mu had secretly hidden some yellow paper for drawing talismans in his study. Looking at the stacks of finished products on the table and the waste that Jing Yao hadn't had time to deal with, Lou Mu was afraid that he wouldn't have enough yellow paper in his study.

Now, because of the Chu Emperor's decree, even yellow paper and other items used by the Celestial Masters can no longer be bought in the imperial city.

Tang Nian picked up one of the talisman papers, divided it into several pieces, and stuffed them into Lou Mu's hands: "Keep this safe, you might need it."

"Will you come with me tomorrow?" Lou Mu asked suddenly, putting the talisman into his sleeve.

Tang Nian was stunned. Lou Mu didn't explain. It took her a while to realize that Lou Mu was asking her if she wanted to go out of the manor with him tomorrow night.

She hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Did the Third Prince summon me?"

After arriving in the capital, she saw portraits of three princes. Judging from the portraits alone, the third prince's destiny was imbued with the aura of the Purple Star, and he had the appearance of a ruler of a country.

Lou Mu must have his reasons for staying in the capital, but he wouldn't go against the will of Heaven.

Lou Mu nodded, showing no surprise that Tang Nian knew he was the Third Prince's person.

Tang Nian thought about it for a moment, but did not agree immediately.

"How much does the Third Prince know?"

"All I know is that you are a Taoist master."

Tang Nian nodded and accepted the Third Prince's invitation.

Tang Nian still felt uneasy when she thought of the unidentified Taoist priest: "Lou Mu, do you have the birth dates and times of those common people?"

Lou Mu pondered in silence for a while, then walked to the door, pushed it open, and instructed Jing Yao, who was guarding the door, "Jing Yao, bring me the files I left in the study."

Jing Yao nodded, turned around, and after taking a few steps, paused for a few seconds before continuing to walk out.

"Instruct the palace spies to find out exactly what happened in the Imperial Study today."

After Lou Mu finished sending a telepathic message to Jing Yao, he didn't close the door. Instead, he walked out of the room, looked up at the crescent moon, and sighed.

He didn't have high hopes for his spies. If it were something else, he could find out. But if it involved a Taoist priest, especially one who practiced forbidden arts, the Chu Emperor would definitely try his best to keep it a secret.

The fact that Tang Nian suddenly drew so many yellow talismans can only be related to what she saw today.

Although she doesn't spend one or two hours, or even several days, drawing a single talisman like other celestial masters, she expends far more spiritual energy than they do.

Although Tang Nian tried to hide it, Lou Mu, who took care of her every day, still noticed the clues at a glance.

Jing Yao carried two bamboo scrolls and ran back, only to see Lou Mu standing in front of the house, seemingly lost in thought. She slowed her pace, not wanting to disturb him.

"Give it to me." Lou Mu turned his head and looked at Jing Yao, who was trying to walk around him to deliver the dossier into the house. After taking the dossier from Jing Yao's hand, he said softly, "You should go back and rest first. You don't need to guard this place anymore."

"Yes, sir."

Lou Mu took the case file back to his room, gently placed it on the table, and sat down to pour himself a cup of hot tea.

"The Dali Temple came to hand over the documents a couple of days ago, and I only kept these two copies. Take a look and see if there's anything you want to know."

These two bamboo slips did not belong to the Dali Temple; they were information found by Lou Mu's men, and they contained more detailed information about missing people than the Dali Temple had written.

Tang Nian nodded, put the book in her hand aside, and picked up a scroll of bamboo slips.

The more she looked, the more serious her expression became.

"What's wrong?"

Tang Nian closed the bamboo slip, shook her head, and refused to say more.

"Aren't we partners?" Lou Mu pressed down on the bamboo slip in Tang Nian's hand, forcing her to look at him.

Tang Nian pursed her lips, avoiding Lou Mu's eyes. After a long while, she finally conceded defeat: "If you really want to know, I'll tell you. These people's birth charts are Yin, and their internal organs simply cannot be refined into elixirs of immortality."

"Then what is this?"

"I remember there used to be a forbidden book that recorded a pill formula. It was said that as long as a ghost ate this pill, it could be freed from the control of the underworld and fade out of the three realms. However, the medicinal materials required for the pill formula were extremely precious, and the medicinal guide also required human internal organs, but it required someone whose birth chart was Yin. I don't know if it's true or not."

"How do you know so much?" Lou Mu asked, somewhat curious about how Tang Nian found these strange and unusual books.

"I've put in a lot of effort to impersonate a celestial master," Tang Nian boasted proudly. "As a Xiang Liu, I was born with a strong aura of malevolence. My internal organs are more effective than those of ordinary people. That evil spirit probably thought the failure of the alchemy was because the internal organs used weren't yin enough."

Lou Mu frowned slightly upon hearing this: "If you can tell that a ghost has a strong aura of malevolence, don't underestimate it."

"Don't worry, I'm not that stupid." Tang Nian was a little impatient when Lou Mu lectured her. She turned around and walked towards the inner room. "I'm going to sleep."

Lou Mu shook his head helplessly, but wisely got up and closed the door.

Tang Nian breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the footsteps fading away outside the door.